I just moved into a new unfurnished apartment about a month ago, so any tools or advice that can help make decorating my home a little easier and faster, as the interior stylists at Flitch promise, would be welcome. Especially since this is my first unfurnished residence, I am definitely lacking in the furniture department. Currently, I am using a small side table as a makeshift dining table and cushions for my chairs. And that's my current so-called rest of the furniture trend. I enlisted the help of the interior stylists at Flitch to give me some furniture suggestions.
So what is Flitch? Launched earlier this year by co-founders Uriel Tannen and Daniel Ufland, the service describes itself as “an online interior styling platform that offers a hassle-free furniture shopping experience built around your tastes, budget and requirements,” according to its website. After taking a style quiz, you'll be given a selection of free AI-generated furniture and home décor ideas in your chosen category, although if you want to add a bit of a human touch, it's a paid service.
The platform offers several different subscription plans at various price points, and after making a one-off payment, you'll be paired with one of their (human) stylists who will create a shortlist of furniture in your desired category. This is where AI comes in to help, scanning the entire UK furniture market to help put together multiple options for the customer. So, how was my experience with Flitch? What did I think of the service? Let me tell you.
Fritch Interior Stylist
(Image courtesy of Future PLC/Simon Whitmore)
To be honest, my house is a total mess right now. But I decided to focus on a few key items that I felt I needed most. Also, my subscription plan (Basic plan for £25) doesn't cover a whole home makeover, as that's the top level that the website doesn't even give a price for. I decided to ask interior stylist Alex Stubbs to help me find the perfect dining table and dining chairs for my dining room idea (the dining area in my living room to be exact), and the perfect desk and desk chair for my home office idea.
First, I took a style quiz asking what I wanted, then I chose a few dining tables, selected my favorites and told the stylist my preferences – the rest was all done over email.
(Image courtesy of Future PLC/Anna Stathaki)
As soon as I created my account and took the quiz, Alex emailed me to let me know that he was shortlisting dining tables and asked me to share any mood boards or images that I liked (this step was completely optional and, in my case, wasn't of much use to poor Alex, because my Pinterest board titled “Beautiful Interiors” contains a very diverse mishmash of different styles for different rooms that I've collected over the years).
It took Alex a few days to put together a list of options, and the same trend repeated itself every time I gave her feedback and asked for a new list – I personally thought it could be done a bit faster, especially since the choices are created in conjunction with the AI, but maybe I'm asking too much here.
Alex was very responsive and helpful with all my requests and enquiries, and I was very happy with the dining chairs she selected, which helped me to finally settle on a particular style, and when I asked if she could find a less expensive alternative to the wishbone chair I had chosen, she quickly gave me four options.
Would I recommend Flitch?
(Image courtesy of Future PLC/Joanna Henderson)
With its affordable service, we think Flitch fills a gap in the market – with interior designers charging around £200 an hour on average (or more) and interior stylists mostly working on commercial projects, getting professional help with home decor without spending a fortune is out of reach for most people.
My only criticism is that to me, the title interior stylist is a bit misleading. I'd be more comfortable calling them personal shoppers, as the majority of the service involves furniture shopping and very little styling. However, the standard plan, which helps you pick furniture for an entire room, includes an inspiration mood board, which contains a combination of your chosen furniture, styled together to give you a good idea of how they'll look together. The styling part starts with this board.
(Image courtesy of Future PLC/David Giles)
Who do we think Flitch is best suited to? People who aren't particularly fond of (or good at) combing the entire furniture market to find the perfect piece for them. Flitch will introduce you to brands you've probably never heard of or thought to consider before.
But what I like most about this service is that if your stylist can't find exactly what you want, you'll get a full refund – meaning they're serious about customer satisfaction – and the generous discounts (depending on the plan you choose) on all furniture sold by Flitch (from Dunelm to La Redoute) don't hurt either.